If you’re not a very political animal, we have good and bad news for you. The good news: Our primary coverage ends Tuesday! The bad news: Our general election coverage begins Wednesday!
But if you can’t get enough political news, we certainly had plenty for you over the past week in advance of Election Day on Aug. 2. And just to make sure you didn’t miss any, we’re rounding up some of our stories from the last few days here.
Primary contenders make the case for their candidacy in local forum
A number of candidates on Tuesday’s ballot—both Republicans and Democrats--spoke at a public forum over the weekend put on by the Voter Empowerment Committee. They spoke about their individual campaigns and what issues they want addressed, but one member of the audience said he just wanted to see less partisanship, more problem solving.
Making sense of Kansas’ ever-changing voting laws
We hope you didn’t miss this one. Reporter Sean Sandefur breaks down the years of state and federal lawsuits that have changed and shaped Kansas voting laws, and explains Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s latest rule to effectively create a two-tiered voting system.
Two Republicans vying for Sedgwick County 3rd District Seat
The results of Tuesday’s election could determine the future of the conservative majority on the Sedgwick County Commission. Incumbent Karl Peterjohn is up for re-election and will face David Dennis for the commission’s 3rd District seat.
Audit finds problems in the Kansas foster care system
Some Democratic lawmakers called for the head of the Kansas Department for Children and Families to resign after an independent legislative audit found issues with the state’s foster care system. The report says the agency and its contractors performed inadequate background checks on foster parents, sometimes missed monthly home checks and failed to investigate some abuse and neglect reports.
Amid Zika concerns, Kansas researchers target mosquitoes that can carry the virus
And, one about not politics, but bugs. Florida officials on Friday confirmed four cases of Zika virus they believe were acquired not through travel or sexual transmission but by mosquito bites. Reporter Abigail Wilson has a look at how researchers in Kansas are monitoring the two species of mosquito able to carry and transmit the virus in an effort to protect Kansans.
